Though we often find much with which to be confused or disappointed in this world, we all can be thankful for at least this:  we are here.  We are here to live, to grow, to be.  By God's grace and intention, we are here--and nowhere else--here to find hope, here to find meaning, here to find God.  We are here.
      As we continue to move towards Christmas, pondering, I hope, the remarkable fact (and paradox) of God becoming a human being, I encourage you to rejoice, not just because Christmas (or, if you prefer, the holidays) is near, but because we are indeed here.  Existence for us is a daily reality, one whose end we will never know, fully, regardless of how much we try to predict or dictate it, a beautiful and wonderful experience which we will only get to do once.  This life, this time, is the only existence we will ever have.
     Or is it?  If, as Genesis reminds us, God "created the heavens and earth," and if, as the gospels remind us, who God is and what he does are grounded in eternality, perhaps what we see now is merely a skein over what is ultimately real, and that temporality is therefore just that, temporary.  Our earthly existence is here, yes, but what is here now is far from being what is completely "here."
     Thankfulness says there's always more.  We cannot escape the teleological.